Writer or not, here I come!

Google Glass is here-ish!

Less than a year later and we have more info on Google Glass including a beta release. Of course, it’s only available in the U.S. for now, probably for complicated bureaucratic reasons that I can’t be bothered with. If you check out this site you can see the various colours it comes in, watch a very slick looking demo of the product and even make a submission in the hopes of becoming one of the first lucky few to have a pair.

I’m a little sad that it isn’t available in Canada yet because it would be so fun to play with. Then again, as a student I am not exactly a high earner. So, until Google Glass ventures to the Great White North (and I’ve saved my pennies, err, nickels) I’ll look at this new technology through another lens.

On social media there have been some amusing posts parodying the new technology. Check out this page by CBC for some funny ones including the mandatory Geordi La Forge reference. The story asks the question “will Google Glass ever be stylish?”

I think it will eventually be stylish. It will just take a long while. Anyone remember how cellphones looked in the mid-90s? How about laptops? Compare them to their modern day descendants, like the Galaxy S III or any MacBook and you’ll see how these technologies went from slabs of plastic and diodes to sleek technology that many of us lustfully long for.

Also, the product is a pair of glasses. There are many people who buy glasses just for the look. They don’t even need them! Weird, eh? So we don’t need to worry about glasses being in style. It’ll just be a matter of time before Google can make the technology look a little less obtrusive and more of an organic part of the glasses.

Another question that needs to be answered is; how will Google Glass work for those of us with impaired vision? Will we be able to just add the little computer part to our frames? Will our prescriptions mess with how the texts, emails searches appear? Will we be forced to use contact lenses if we want to use Google Glass? Or will Google start opening optometrist offices?

I sure hope Google has something planned for that demographic. If they don’t it may end up like the 3D movie experience of wearing glasses over glasses: an experience which never makes me feel more immersed in the world of the movie. In what corner of reality, or fiction, would I wear glasses on top of glasses?